And she proclaimed amongst others, that: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. (…) Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. (…) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own (…)

But now our political leaders find these human rights a burden, a nuisance, a joke. Seventy years later, after the world vowed ‘never again’, we have a pussy-grabbing chimp in the White House who has turned immorality, corruption, sexism, racism, nepotism, abuse of power and lying into his life mission. Into some sort of obscene form of higher art.

Because there is simply no bigger profanity than dishonouring human life. No bigger scandal than separating children from their parents. No bigger disgrace than emprisoning parents who ask for asylum. No bigger travesty than laughing at people who drown in the Mediterranean looking for a better and safer life.

We live in a time where extreme-right propagandists dressed up as journalists defame, without any hesitation, the father of a three year old boy called Alan Kurdi whose lifeless body reached the Turkish shore.

Fascist autocracy

Ann Coulter called the crying children separated from their parents in the States ‘child actors’ and urged Trump ‘not to fall for it’.

Here in Holland our government separated Armina from her two children Lili and Howick.

Also here in Holland, the dandy of the extreme-right, Thierry Baudet, would rather see boats filled with refugees drown in the sea than have them reach our European shores.

This is how far we have come. The dehumanization has become a matter of fact. No longer something you should be ashamed of, but a political asset.

Black lives

In America encounters with the police have become lethal for Black people. White police officers have no regard whatsoever for Black lives.

But Black lives matter. Muslim lives matter. The lives of native Americans matter. Latin American lives matter. Roma and Sinti lives matter. Syrian, African, Yemeni, Palestinian, Jewish, Rohingya lives matter. Refugees’ lives matter. We can only say that all lives matter, once they actually, unequivocally do. Of every minority, regardless of any distinction.

So, I’ll behave today since there are children here, and say F. civility. Forget civility.

If anything, politicians should be servile. They should be serving us. Attending to our needs and benefits instead of their ambitions and careers.

Don’t be fooled by the hawkish, apocalyptic talk about the migration or refugee crisis. There is no migration crisis, the number of refugees seeking asylum have gone down dramatically. There is, however, a moral crisis. A very deep, disconcerting one that will in the end affect all of us.

Merchants of hate

And the only way to stop this, is to speak up. People have been silent for too long, giving all the space and room to these nationalistic merchants of hate, sexism and racism. The prophets of doom and decay.

Don’t let them intimidate you. Don’t let them frame you or bully into silence. Don’t think that your one voice won’t make a change. Don’t believe that it’s okay to disagree. It’s okay to disagree when it comes to fashion or food or which series you like best.

But not when it comes to fundamental issues such as human rights and fascism. Don’t think you’re alone. We are not alone and we are not weak. We can impose our voice. Just look at what Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did. We have the power to change this political course. We can vote politicians in office and we can kick them out. We can be as loud and bold – even louder and bolder than these extremists who have taken to the stage.

Moral obligation

Recently a colleague told me that as a journalist he couldn’t speak up. I am a journalist too and really there is no profession on earth that releases you from the moral obligation to call out injustice and stand up against it.

Hassnae Bouazza is a Dutch-Moroccan writer, journalist, Middle-East watcher and translator. She received the Arouwad Award in Beirut in 2015 for her work on the Arab world. Dutch islamophobes consider her a front soldier of the islamisation of The Netherlands. Together with the new mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, she made a documentary series about women in the islamic world, Sex and Sin.